


remember not to get too close to stars

by amells (aeviternal)



Category: Andromeda Six (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:15:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29790420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeviternal/pseuds/amells
Summary: The traveller finds herself pondering just how little of the world she's actually experienced.Vexx, in his usual playful way, offers a... well, asolutionof sorts.
Relationships: Vexx Serif/Original Female Character(s), Vexx Serif/Traveler
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	remember not to get too close to stars

“Tell me about the stars.”

It’s the first thing Atlas has said for two hours. That’s how long they’ve been in the library, her wrapped up in an old tome on proper tree maintenance, of all things, and he— well, _he’s_ been trying to pretend he isn’t bored out of his mind.

Vexx is probably the worst liar she’s ever met. It’s one of the things she likes best about him; everything in the palace is about artifice and pretence, but there’s none of that with him. He’s— he’s honest. He’s _real,_ because he has to be.

So, okay, maybe she can’t be _too_ mad about all his fidgeting and huffing and puffing.

“Again?” Vexx snorts. “I’ve already told you every story I’ve got, Princess.”

Atlas sighs, staring up at the ceiling. It was painted back in her great-grandfather’s day; a fresco done in the Old Earth style, full of gods and monsters, a veritable garden locked up inside one room.

When she was a kid, she used to spend hours studying it. Thinking about all that sunlight, all that green; what it might be like to step out among it.

She’s long-since given up on that dream, of course, but— but sometimes she revisits it, just for a little while. It always makes her chest ache a little.

Her chest is aching now, too.

“I know. But— again?”

“Why?” She can feel his gaze on the side of her face, light and searching, playful. “Finally get bored of your book?”

Her lips twitch. “No. I just— I don’t know. I was thinking.”

“Ooh,” Vexx says with a grin, nudging her with his foot. 

He’s sat opposite the window-seat she’d collapsed into, sprawled across an antique armchair that’s probably older than both of them combined. 

“Go on.”

“Just— nothing special. I was just— thinking about the outside, is all. The world. World _s.”_

Vexx pauses. “In here’s not so bad, you know.”

“Yes, it _is._ It’s so— so _stuffy._ And— and it’s _small_ after all these years. It’s like a _cage.”_

“There are worse cages, Your Highness.” His voice is tighter, now, sharper in a way she’s never heard before.

She blinks at him. “Have I— did I say something wrong?”

Vexx’s jaw clenches, eyes far away for a second, but then he sucks on his teeth and shakes his head, looking over her shoulder out the window.

“No. No, you just— you’re living in a _palace,_ Princess. Not many people get to do that.”

Atlas exhales, dropping her chin into her palm.

“I— yeah, I know that. I do. But, see, this is what I mean, Vexx! I don’t know _anything,_ not really.”

Vexx rolls his eyes. 

“Yes, you do. You’ve read more books than anyone ever has. Or anyone ever _will._ You’ve got a whole damn _library_ in that little blonde head of yours.”

“Yeah, of _stories._ And— and _fairytales,_ and _astronomy,_ and _botany._ I don’t know anything about the _world,_ Vexx. I don’t know anything about _any_ world!”

“Princess—”

“I can count on _one_ hand the number of times I’ve left this palace. I have _one_ friend—”

“Is this your way of calling me a bad friend?”

“You’re a _brilliant_ friend, stop it. I didn’t mean that. I just mean…” 

She heaves a sigh, leaning back so she can stare at the ceiling and try to gain control of the terrible ache in her chest.

“I _mean,”_ she begins again after a moment, “that I— I want to _live._ I want to _go places,_ I want to see the stars. I want to be able to go out whenever I want without anyone telling me not to. I want to make friends, to— to live my _life._ You know, the number of people I’ve talked to outside of the servants or my family is… it’s _minuscule._ God, Vexx, I’ve never even been _kissed!”_

“Would you like to be?”

Atlas blinks, head snapping back down so fast she’s dizzy. “What?”

Vexx’s grin is vulpine, his eyes dancing, green fire. “Would you _like_ to be?”

Her cheeks are burning. An unfortunate habit, that; her mother had once said that blushing was one of the ugliest things she’d seen Atlas do, and recommended that she work on it before they spent time together again.

But— but really. What does he _expect_ from her when he’s going around saying things like— like _that?_

“Very funny, Vexx,” she manages to choke out with a clumsy laugh, sitting up straight and dragging her hand through her hair.

It’s loose today, which is new; she hasn’t worn it down since Arlo chopped it all off while she was napping in the rose garden last year, but she has no plans to see him today and he never visits the library, so she’s indulged. 

She’s thankful for it now, because it gives her something to hide behind when Vexx’s gaze gets even _heavier._

“I _am_ pretty funny.” He shifts, knee knocking into hers and sending her heart skittering. “But I wasn’t joking this time around, Princess.” 

She looks at him in fractions. First his knee, covered by the dark trousers of his guard’s uniform. Then his hand, hanging from his lap; long-fingered and pale and calloused, a scar curving over the bump of his third knuckle, the origins of which he’s never given a straight answer about. 

Up the line of his forearm to his elbow, which rests on one thigh, and then further up still to one broad shoulder.

Atlas pauses there for a second. She’s seen the uniforms of Orsanna’s Guard every day since she was just a little girl, and she’s never thought much about them. On Vexx, though— they can’t be _meant_ to look like that, can they? So— so— _lewd?_

She swallows, then makes the jump to his neck. The scars there, the mark of someone only half-kitalphan. 

She wonders if they hurt at all. If the high, starched collar of his uniform irritates them. She’s never thought to ask any of her siblings about theirs, but— well, why should she, when Vexx is right here? 

Sorenn has ones like these, she remembers; Arlo, too. It’s just about the only thing they share, her nice brother and her nasty one.

And Vexx— what is he? Nice, she thinks. Very nice. 

Nobody’s _ever_ nice to Atlas, but he is.

_He is,_ she reminds herself, and then she meets his eyes. 

They’re softer than usual, less cold emerald and more— more like grass in spring, like the gardens outside, the closest to freedom she’s ever known. Bright and alive and clean. 

_I trust you,_ she remembers when she looks into those eyes. _I trust you more than anybody in all the worlds._

He’s tilting his head to the side, and his lips have twitched into the smallest of smirks, but he’s… he doesn’t push. He doesn’t say anything. It’s like he’s waiting.

Waiting for _what,_ though?

“Well, I—” she clears her throat, wishing she could stop _blushing._ “I— you don’t— have. To do that. Um.”

Vexx snorts, rolling his eyes. “I know I don’t _have_ to, Princess.”

And maybe that’s what she likes best about him: he doesn’t bow, he doesn’t scrape. He doesn’t follow her orders blindly. He’s—

He’s _Vexx._

“So why—”

“Maybe I want to.” He shrugs, scratching the back of his neck. “It doesn’t— have to be a big deal, right? Just one friend, helping another friend?”

“Right,” Atlas is croaking out before she even realises it. “Just— just friends.”

“Exactly.” He grins. “You deserve to be kissed at least _once,_ Atlas. Properly kissed.”

He’s leaning closer, she realises. Her lungs are— they’re filled with cotton, or silk, or petals. Filled with the pages of every romance novel she’s ever covetously devoured, every map she’s ever pored over, every horizon she’s ever longed for. 

A cliff’s edge is crumbling beneath her fine-slippered feet, she thinks, and she doesn’t know how to claw her way back. Does she _want_ to claw her way back?

“And you’ll—” She has to swallow before she can finish. “You’ll do it— properly?”

His breath brushes her lips when he whispers, “yeah, Princess, I’ll do it properly. If that’s what you want?”

She can’t speak around the pulse fluttering in her throat, so she settles for nodding instead, blush spreading down her neck when the movement brings her _even_ closer to him.

“Yeah?” he clarifies, eyes darker now, pupils blown.

“Y— yeah.” 

And then— and then he’s kissing her.

She’d— Atlas had expected— well, she had _assumed_ that he would be quick about it. A— a peck, you know, all she was really asking for — well, she didn’t _ask,_ but what she _meant_ — was something— just— a little kiss. Chaste.

This… this isn’t that.

His mouth slants over hers first, firm and warm, and she doesn’t know why she’d thought his lips would be chapped, because they’re not. They’re surprisingly soft, actually, moving over her own slowly, _almost_ carefully, if anything about Vexx could ever be called ‘careful’. 

She isn’t— he hasn’t told her what to do. What does she do? She can’t just— is she supposed to just sit here? 

In the books, kisses were always these explosive, passionate displays of emotion. They were always frenetic, frantic, full of yearning and hidden feeling and joy. The culmination of a tension, or a moment, or a story. They were an _interaction,_ not— no one just _sat_ there.

“You’re thinking too much,” Vexx scolds lightly, his smile twitching against her lips.

Atlas pulls away, shaking her head to try to clear the blaze on her cheeks. “I’m sorry, this was a mistake, I— I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”

He laughs, that smile _sharpening_ just a bit, like the slash of a knife. “I’ll show you. If you want me to.”

She chews on her lower lip, flushing deeper when Vexx’s gaze darts down to watch, eyes dark and heavy. His tongue darts out to lick the corner of his mouth.

Tongues! That’s— that’s what usually happens in books. Right?

“Princess?”

“I— okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah. Yes, I— show me. Please.”

Vexx chuckles. “Always so polite.”

Her reply gets lost between their mouths, but she doesn’t really mind.

This time, his lips are coaxing, teaching. “Like this,” he breathes, and then his tongue is tracing her lower lip, and she gasps.

And this— oh, this is much more like the stories. His tongue slides into her mouth, and she’s distantly aware of his hand on the back of her head, his fingers knotting in her hair to bring her closer, but she’s a little more preoccupied with figuring out how to kiss _back._

She flicks her tongue against his hesitantly, and he makes this _sound—_ a low grunt, pleased, like she’s done something right. A thrill sparks up through her ribs, heart fluttering, _pounding,_ and she leans closer, fingers knotting in his shirt, seeking— seeking _more._

He starts to withdraw, or— or she _thinks_ he does, and she whines slightly, disappointed, but then he’s nipping at her lip, his teeth blunt and raw and surprisingly _good,_ sending shivers down her spine and through every limb.

She didn’t— no one told her it would be like _this._ In stories, it’s always poetic; beautiful, but somehow unreal or detached.

This is so much _more._ This is— it’s wet and warm and clumsy; it’s Vexx’s breath harsh against her cheek; it’s the quiet, slightly slick sound of his mouth on hers; it’s how he tastes like cinnamon and coffee and something sharper, something herbal, something she recognises but can’t quite name.

“Atlas,” he pants, rough and low, _hungry,_ and that burn across her cheeks begins to creep down towards her gut.

It’s the first time he’s used her name. _Atlas._ And here — caught between his mouth and hers — it tastes _divine._

His fingers tighten — she moans, shivers skittering all across her scalp, _why does that feel so good?_ — and he drags her closer by the hair, licking into her mouth so thoroughly that she almost blacks out.

“Atlas! Atlas, are you in here?”

Vexx jerks away so fast that Atlas loses her balance, sprawling across the marble floor and slamming a bruise into her elbow.

_“Ouch—”_

“Atlas? Are you alright?”

“Ye— yes,” Atlas yelps, pulling herself to her feet just milliseconds before Nerissa passes the corner.

Atlas loves her older sister. Nerissa is— she’s everything. Her favourite person in the entire universe. She just— she _really_ doesn’t want her catching her doing something like— like _kissing her guard._ That’s just _asking_ for trouble.

For both of them! Vexx could— he’d be _dismissed,_ if anyone knew. How did she fail to think of that? She’d never want that for him!

Nerissa stares as Atlas tries to compose herself, her dark brows furrowed and lips parted, caught somewhere between suspicion and amusement.

“What happened?”

“I, uh—”

“The princess tripped, Your Highness,” Vexx chimes in from behind her, and Atlas has to resist the urge to shut her eyes when his voice brings out her blush all over again.

_“Right…”_ Nerissa nods, though she’s clearly not convinced.

“Can—” Atlas coughs, trying to redirect the conversation. “Can I help you, Ris?”

“I thought we could go for a walk. K’s already in the gardens waiting. We haven’t had an afternoon together in so long, Atlas; I thought it’d be nice.”

“Yes!”

Atlas darts a look at Vexx — his hair’s a mess, and his lips are all swollen and pink, _oh no_ — and practically throws herself at her sister.

“Please. It’d— it’ll be nice. I’ve missed you.”

Nerissa looks between the two of them, violet eyes narrowed, and for a moment, Atlas thinks they’re both done for, but then—

Then she huffs a laugh, shaking her head, and offers an arm to Atlas.

“Come on, then. We can bring your guard with us, if you like.”

**Author's Note:**

> aaaa vexx is probably SUPER ooc here but. here we are ig. hmu on [tumblr](https://solasan.tumblr.com/) if u want to yell abt him w me


End file.
